


We Could Be Killers

by AnnieNadir



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Heroes to Villains, Slow Burn Romance, The title is a reference to a CftPA song which is actually not at all contextually similar, There will be a lot of death before it's finished, slow burn villains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 02:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15209312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieNadir/pseuds/AnnieNadir





	1. Chapter 1

     Caitlin smoothed her pajamas and looked in the mirror to perfect her unnecessary makeup. She wiped a smudge from under her eye. She didn’t know why she went to all this trouble for movie night. It was just Cisco. He’d seen her look much worse. After Ronnie died she’d had neither the energy nor the willpower to maintain her appearance. At all. And, yet, here she was anxiously correcting her eye shadow.

     Cisco would be there any minute. In fact, he was already a few minutes late, Caitlin noticed. It wasn’t uncommon for him; he probably just stopped for snacks on the way over.

     There was a knock at the door. _See? Nothing to worry about_. Caitlin hurried to the door to let him in. She didn’t bother using the peephole. She opened the door. Cisco wasn’t on the other side. Instead, Caitlin found herself face to face with Amunet Black.

     “What are you doing here?” The words came out bluntly. Caitlin could hardly believe what she was seeing.

     “I’m here to see my favorite henchman.” Amunet moved past Caitlin into the apartment. “Do you mind?”

     She was waiting for Caitlin to change. Usually the sight of Amunet would be enough to trigger it, but Caitlin was still there. A beat passed, and Amunet moved in toward Caitlin, backing her into a corner.

     “You see, I need a favor, and if I don’t get it, things won’t end well for your friend Cisco. I ran into him on the way here. Maybe I’ll gut him anyway. It’d be a shame for you. First your Ronnie, and now him… It would be the perfect payback for that last stunt you pulled.”

     Caitlin closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. She couldn’t lose Cisco. He was all that kept her going after Ronnie’s death, after Zoom, after she got her powers. Without him she’d be lost. He was her best friend.

     “That’s right. Be a good girl and bring me Frost.”

     Before she knew what she was doing, Caitlin grabbed Amunet’s neck and slammed her head into the adjacent wall. Hard enough to cause a concussion, she hoped. Amunet hadn’t expected a fight from the usually meek Caitlin Snow. Killer Frost, maybe, but not when she had a hostage. She hadn’t brought much in the way of ammunition. Still, Caitlin knew she’d be in trouble if Amunet was able to regain her concentration. She dug her fingers into Amunet’s neck doing her best to cut off airflow. As a doctor, Caitlin knew strangulation wasn’t the quickest way to incapacitate an enemy, but she’d be damned if it wasn’t satisfying. For once Caitlin was the one with the power.

     Amunet wasn’t giving up easily. She thrashed in Caitlin’s grip, and gathered all of the metal on her person. It floated shakily, the lack of oxygen was wearing on her. Fighting for her life, she launched it at Caitlin. It tore through Caitlin’s pajamas and through the flesh in her side. But it wasn’t enough to save Amunet. Caitlin held her still with a strength she didn’t know she had. Only Killer Frost had ever been this strong.

     “How does it feel to have no control?” She didn’t expect a response. She didn’t need one. That was how she had felt ever since the particle accelerator exploded. She couldn’t save Ronnie. She couldn’t save herself from Zoom. She couldn’t control her own fucking powers. And, to top it off, she had to play henchman to a street criminal just to stay in control of her own head. She was done. Caitlin slammed Amunet’s head into the wall again, enjoying the rush of adrenaline. The rush of control. Amunet blacked out. She was incapacitated. Caitlin should stop. She should, but she didn’t want to. Caitlin wanted to take something from her. She wanted to inflict pain. God knew she had enough bottled up inside of her. And she never wanted Amunet to be able to touch Cisco ever again. He was in danger because of Caitlin’s mistakes. She was as angry at herself as she was Amunet. This time she wasn’t going to keep that anger inside of her. It surged through her as hands tightened on Amunet’s neck. Her fingernails broke the skin. Blood trickled onto Caitlin’s finger’s. She savored the warmth. Amunet’s neck bruised as Caitlin burst blood vessels. Her breathing became more and more labored before ceasing all together. Caitlin had killed her…and she’d liked it. It looked like the mantle of Killer Frost really did suit her. Caitlin let Amunet’s body hit the floor. She was still angry, but it was good start. She gave the body a forceful kick.

     “Never start a fight you can’t finish.”

     Amunet could have threatened Caitlin all she wanted, but she should have known better than to stand between her and Cisco. Caitlin still had to find Cisco. She wasn’t dressed for it. She was still wearing pajamas. Torn ones at that. She looked at the tear. It was coated in blood, but the wound underneath had healed. For the first time, Caitlin noticed that her hair had turned white at some point during her altercation with Amunet. She had changed. But she hadn’t changed. For once Caitlin was in control of her powers instead of her powers controlling her. It felt good. She chilled Amunet’s body and stuffed it in her bedroom closet. She could deal with that later. Right now saving Cisco was all that mattered. She jammed her shoes on, grabbed her phone, and ran out, still in her torn, bloody pajamas.

      She called Barry. _Pick up, pick up, pick up_. Caitlin heard him on the line after the first ring. She didn’t wait for him to speak. They didn’t have the time.

     “Amunet got Cisco. She’s probably keeping him in at her hide out. She won’t be on site. Pick me up near my apartment. Don’t waste time getting Ralph around.”

     “How do you–”

     “Just get here,” she snapped, cutting him off.

     As soon as she hung up he was there. In another heartbeat they were at Amunet’s lair. Cisco was chained up, barely conscious. His face was bruised as though he’d been knocked out with a blunt instrument. Cisco. He was alive. He would be okay. There were guards, of course, but Caitlin ignored them. Barry would take care of them. She went straight to Cisco. She froze the chains and broke them. Cisco reached for her as soon as his arms were free. She held him tightly, but gently. She tried to press him as close as she could, breathing in his scent.

     “Caitlin.” He used her name even though she looked more like Killer Frost.

     She tried her hardest to change her hair back to its original brown. From what she could see, it worked. She hoped her eyes had changed back too. She wasn’t ready for them to know about what had happened to her tonight.

      “I was afraid I would lose you tonight.” Suddenly she couldn’t stop the tears from coming. She was sobbing violently in his arms.

     “That will never happen,” he whispered. _Not while I’m around_ , Caitlin thought to herself.

     “Guys, we need to get out of here.” Barry interrupted. He’d knocked out all of the guards.

     “Take Cisco first. Star Labs. I need to check out his injuries.” Caitlin ordered, brushing away her tears. Barry ran Cisco out. A second later he came back to take Caitlin.

 

* * *

 

    

    Barry had gone home, leaving Caitlin and Cisco alone in the lab. Caitlin was finishing up her tests.

“There’s some bruising, but you don’t have a concussion. Overall, you’re healthy. You’ll be fine, Cisco.” She sounded like she was still convincing herself. Caitlin was still shaken.

     “So, movie night?” He asked, smiling at her.

     “It’s late and you need to sleep, but I’ll start a movie with you if you at least try to rest.” Caitlin couldn’t refuse him. “At your house.”

     “I don’t think I’d be able to sleep alone tonight anyway.” Caitlin shared the sentiment. The thought of what she’d done, who she was becoming, frightened her. And, after tonight, she was loath to let Cisco out of her sight.

 

* * *

 

 

The television screen cast a faint light on the room. Caitlin watched Cisco sleep. He’d dozed off nearly as soon as they settled onto the couch. She didn’t blame him after the night they’d had. It was funny; she’d been so concerned with her appearance earlier. It felt like ages ago. Now here she was, her makeup smudged, her hair a mess, and her pajamas torn and bloody. She hadn’t given it a thought. She had much bigger problems to deal with now. But all that mattered to her at the moment was that Cisco was safe. Anything else could wait.


	2. Chapter 2

     It was a difficult day at Star Labs. Emotions were running high after Cisco’s kidnapping the night before. Caitlin had scarcely slept, and all of the coffee she’d had to keep her going served to put her even more on edge. Caitlin had snapped at Ralph so many times he told her he was starting to think Killer Frost was the nice one. In response, she had winced and left the room, at which point Cisco began yelling at Ralph for being a dick. Barry and Iris were getting tired of mediating.

     The day wore to a close, but Caitlin’s work was far from done. She had a body to dispose of. She hoped she had chilled it enough that her apartment wouldn’t reek of death when she returned.

     She waited for everyone else to leave, then went to retrieve the supplies she needed: fluoroantimonic acid, the largest teflon container she could find, and safety supplies. She quickly realized she hadn’t planned a way to get all of this stuff home, let alone do so inconspicuously. Caitlin set the gloves, face shield, folded hazmat suit, and container of acid down on the lid of the large teflon barrel, and sighed. _What was she doing? How had her life become this?_ She covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. She couldn’t fall apart now. The sound of footsteps sounded outside. Caitlin’s head shot up. She didn’t have time to hide what she was doing. She didn’t even know she had the time to scrape up a semi-believable excuse. She stepped in front of the the teflon barrel. Her breathing was so shallow she thought she might faint.

     Cisco entered the room speaking. “Caitlin? Are you free for dinner tonigh–” He broke off and looked at Caitlin, who was trying in vain to hide a rather large, bright yellow teflon bin behind her. Her entire body was stiff; her face, red. “What are you doing?”

     Caitlin let out a breath she’d been holding. At least it was Cisco, had it been Barry, or Joe, or Iris, this would have been a much more precarious situation.

     “Killer Frost did some things that were… less than legal to rescue you last night. I’m taking care of it” It wasn’t a lie, just a partial omission. She hoped he wouldn’t press her.

     Cisco raised an eyebrow, but, to Caitlin’s great relief, didn’t push the issue.

     “Need help getting home?” He asked instead, looking Caitlin with concern. “Uh,” Caitlin said intelligently, glancing behind her. “Yeah, that would be really helpful.”

     She grabbed a second hazmat suit, and handed him a pair of rubber gloves .

     “Put these on.” Cisco complied and opened a breach. Then he helped Caitlin lift the barrel and supplies through it. They exited into the hall by her apartment.

     “I can handle it from here,” Caitlin said abruptly, her words came out more harshly than she’d intended. She put a hand on Cisco’s forearm. “But come back in a few hours, and once we dump this at the waste treatment plant, we can order Chinese. My treat.”

     Cisco gave her a faint smile, and left through another breach.

     Caitlin unlocked her apartment and moved everything inside. Her apartment didn’t smell great, but it could’ve been much worse considering she left a dead body there for a day. The scent could probably be masked with some air freshener. She went back to her room to retrieve the body from her closet. Still cold. The dead weight would have been difficult for Caitlin to shoulder ordinarily, but with her powers finally under her control, at least for the moment, she lifted it with ease. While her newfound control over her abilities was useful, Caitlin found it extremely disconcerting. Most likely, it meant that her dissociation from Killer Frost was psychosomatic, not a result of the powers themselves. Which meant everything Killer Frost did, was truly something she did. She couldn’t distance herself from Killer Frost or her actions anymore… But she had killed someone yesterday as Caitlin Snow, so perhaps it didn’t matter anyway.

     Caitlin shuddered and tried to focus on the mechanics of the task at hand, hoping it would quiet her mind. She dropped Amunet’s body roughly into the barrel. It landed with a thud. She cut off one of the braids in Amunet’s ponytail in case she needed to prove Amunet’s death to her lackeys. Caitlin stashed it away where she hoped no one would ever find it. Then she tossed the clothes she was wearing at the time of the murder in next to the body. The metal with which Amunet had tried to defend herself went in next. Caitlin put on her safety gear. Then lifted the superacid with great care. Maybe hydrofluoric acid was overkill, but she needed it to work quickly. After a brief moment of hesitation, she opened the acid and began pouring it over the corpse. The flesh fizzled and corroded as soon as the acid made contact. It was enough to make most people’s stomach’s churn. Not Caitlin’s. She would have liked to have said it was because of all she had seen as a doctor, and a doctor to metahumans at that. She knew that wasn’t the case. There was something so satisfying about seeing her enemy dead at her hands. When Caitlin saw Amunet’s flesh melting away it sent shivers of excitement, no, joy, down her spine. The greatest threat to her life and loved ones had been eliminated. Soon there would be nothing left of Amunet Black. It made Caitlin feel untouchable, godly. Suddenly, she was ashamed of herself. _What kind of monster was she?_ She dumped the rest of the acid into the barrel and carefully secured the lid.

     Now for the cleaning, a much simpler task. Caitlin scoured the blood stains throughout her apartment with bleach. It also got rid of most of the odor. To be safe she also made sure to spray air freshener throughout the apartment and lit some candles.

     Before she knew it, Cisco was there again. Caitlin didn’t waste any time. She tossed a hazmat suit at him.

     “The waste treatment plant. We’ve got to be in and out fast. We can’t be seen.”

 

* * *

 

 

The dump had gone off without a hitch. They’d breached back to Caitlin’s apartment unnoticed. Cisco hadn’t asked any questions. Maybe he was too afraid of the answer he’d get. Caitlin was thankful for it regardless.

     She’d ordered Chinese food for them. It had yet to be delivered. For the time being, they watched the evening news. Caitlin leaned against Cisco on the couch. She needed the strength. After last night, she also needed to be reassured that he was there, he was safe. When she was sure he wasn’t looking, Caitlin stole a glance at Cisco. She wondered if he knew how much he meant to her. She wondered if he ever thought about her the way she thought about him. No, that wasn’t her place in his life. It was Gypsy’s. She shouldn’t let herself linger on it. Caitlin turned her head back to the news. They were running a human interest story. It seemed like it had been all fluff pieces today. It made sense. Amunet had been smart enough to fly under the radar most of the time. Caitlin was glad that spared the stress of a high profile investigation of the murder she’d just committed. The story, a heartwarming piece about a local sports team, failed to capture her interest.

     The knock at the door almost sent Caitlin out of her skin _. What if one of Amunet’s henchmen knew? What if they were after her?_ She hadn’t thought about that until now. She was being paranoid, she realized as she noticed the concerned look Cisco was giving her. It was just the food. Get a grip, Caitlin.

     “I’ll get it,” Caitlin said, springing up from the couch. She rushed to get her wallet and opened the door. She gave a rushed apology to the delivery man and exchanged the money for a few bags of Chinese food.

     She took it to the dining table and removed the take out boxes from the bags, handing half of them to Cisco. He’d decided to use the chopsticks that came in the bag. Caitlin wasn’t in the mood to bother with them, so she had retrieved a fork from the kitchen. Cisco ate as though he was famished. Though Caitlin’s powers sped up her metabolism– not nearly as much as Barry’s did his, but enough to be noticeable –she didn’t have an appetite. She ate some, but she spent much more time picking through her rice with her fork.

     After some time Caitlin noticed Cisco staring at her. He was worried. Not surprisingly, given that she’d hardly spoken to him all evening and now wasn’t eating on top of that.

     “Are you okay?” His eyes were kinder than she deserved. Her eyes welled with tears. She manages to hold them back, looking down at her food. She almost lost him the day before. Of course she wasn’t okay.

     “Why do I always have to be okay?” She asked coolly. Caitlin hadn’t been “okay” since before the particle accelerator explosion. She continued before he could answer. “You almost died yesterday, and I’m supposed to act like nothing happened? How are you okay?”

     “I know things will get better,” Cisco answered simply.

     “Like they got better for Dante?” It was a low blow and Caitlin knew it. Cisco recoiled as though she had slapped him. “Or Ronnie? Or H.R.?”

Cisco said nothing.

     “Things get better for Barry.” _He got his happy ending. Everyone else be damned._ “His life gets better. But me? My life has been nothing but pain from the instant the particle accelerator exploded. My whole existence has become a series of losses. And they’ll never stop. Only heroes get fairy-tale endings.”

     Cisco stared across the table at her. He was moments from tears.

     “Caitlin,” He began pleadingly. Caitlin met his eyes.

     “I’m no hero, Cisco,” Her voice wavered slightly. “and I’m starting to think that maybe I’m supposed to be the villain.”


End file.
